Worldwide wrap-up-four deals and a show

By Staff

Published: 09.01.2012

Texas-based Sport Clips has begun its international expansion process by moving across the border into Canada. The 930-unit chain specializing in men’s and boys’ haircuts, has partnered with Peter Kowal and his investment group, who will serve as the master licensee for Canada. Kowal, who is Canadian, has been a coach for Sport Clips in the U.S. The first location is expected to open in London, Ontario, in early 2013. Projections call for 50 locations in the next three years.

• • • • • • • • •

Boston’s Restaurant & Sports Bar opened its third location in Mexico this summer, with three additional restaurants scheduled to open by the end of 2013. The recent opening was in Villahermosa, a city that is equidistant from Mexico City and Cancun.

International Dairy Queen, the Minneapolis-based treat franchise that is part of Berkshire Hathaway, opened its 100th location in Mexico, with plans to open an additional 15 restaurants by the end of this year.

The franchisee, Javier Gandara Jr. of Daqu de Sonora S A de C V, now owns and operates more than 34 Dairy Queen locations throughout central and northern Mexico.

Dairy Queen opened its first location in Mexico in the 1960s, and it’s now the brand’s fourth largest international market.

• • • • • • • • •

Top photos: Two scenes from last year’s FrAMchise Day in the Czech Republic; and the prototype of the Hualuxe hotel, designed specifically for the Chinese market, scheduled to be built in China by IHG. Above: Marc Mushkin, SVP of Pollo Tropical, signs a 10-unit agreement with Manjit Singh Saini, CEO of Paramount Cuisines in India.

Eastern Europe’s largest franchise event, FrAMchise Day, will be held November 9-10 in Prague. The event, hosted by the Czech Franchise Institute with assistance from the U.S. Commercial Service, features mostly U.S. companies. Part of the package for exhibitors, according to Jana Ruckerova, commercial specialist at the Commercial Service, is a market search for the exhibitor to locate potential partners, who will then be invited to meet with the franchisor reps at the actual event.

There are 170 franchised brands already operating in the Czech Republic, including McDonald’s, Hooters, Avis and Century 21. Most are in the hospitality and retail market, and 55 percent are Czech concepts.

For more information on the event, go to www.franchiseday.cz or email Jana.Ruckerova@trade.gov

• • • • • • • • •

Mumbai, India-based Sabero Group is looking to bring a U.S. restaurant concept to its country, according to Ali Asgar Motiwala, commercial specialist with the American Consulate in Mumbai. Sabero was founded in 1992 by the Chuganee family and has an asset base of more than $100 million, through interests in chemical, finance and information management. The three restaurant areas they are interested in are Mexican casual-dining, sandwich cafe and full-service dining. For more information, visit http://export.gov/india

• • • • • • • • •

The old adage, “Time kills all deals,” doesn’t apply when it comes to international deals, where a leisurely pace is sometimes culturally dictated. The recent agreement Marc Mushkin, senior vice president of international development for Pollo Tropical, signed with Paramount Cuisines Pvt. Ltd. in India was a 12-month process and involved several trips between the two countries by both parties.

Paramount Cuisine is a newly constructed division of the Paramount Group, a manufacturing company that had to add the restaurant experience Pollo Tropical requires before the deal could be signed. The agreement calls for a minimum of 10 units to be built between 2013 and 2016 in the northern region of India. Mushkin’s advice: “Be patient. Hold to your principles...The businessmen in this area are very enthusiastic—and have resources— but you want there to be a business plan.”